Sana’a: The leader of Yemen’s Shia militia, who seized the presidential palace yesterday, has warned that “all options are open” in their action against the authority of President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
“All options are open in this action. We will take any measure to protect the peace and partnership agreement,” signed after the northern militia overran Sana’a in September, Abdul Malik Al Houthi said.
“No one, the president or anyone else, will be above our measures if they stand to implement a conspiracy against this country,” he warned in a televised statement.
“We are ready to face any measures by the UN Security Council, Abdulmalik Al Houthi said. “I advise the UN Security Council... (that) you will not benefit from any measures you wish to take” against the Houthis, he said. “We are ready to face the consequences, regardless of what they are.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on armed factions in Yemen to stop fighting immediately. The UN chief urged “all sides to immediately cease all hostilities, exercise maximum restraint, and take the necessary steps to restore full authority to the legitimate government institutions.”
Shia militiamen seized the presidential palace in capital Sana’a yesterday in what a minister said was a bid to overthrow President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi and his US-backed government.
UN envoy Jamal Benomar told the UN Security Council that the Shia militia known as the Houthis had launched a “masssive attack using heavy weapons” on the palace, a diplomatic source said.
The envoy, who briefed from Doha by video link, said he would travel to Sana’a immediately to try to help restore stability.
The Security Council meeting was requested by Britain following heavy clashes on Monday between the Houthis and the presidential guard in Sana’a.
Following a brief lull overnight, Houthi gunmen seized the palace yesterday and attacked Hadi’s residence, with the president reportedly inside and meeting with visitors. The 15-member council was expected to issue a statement following the emergency meeting to condemn the attack and apparent coup attempt.
British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters the statement would call “on all spoilers to the political process to desist from their actions or face the wrath of the international community.”
Benomar has been leading negotiations on forming a unity government in Yemen but faces resistance from the Huthis who have tightened their control over Sana’a since they overran the capital in September.
Ban also condemned the kidnapping by the Houthis on Saturday of Hadi’s chief of staff, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, and called for his immediate release.
Hadi’s government has been a key ally of the United States, allowing Washington to carry out repeated drone attacks on Al Qaeda militants in its territory.
Yemen’s branch of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is considered its most dangerous and claimed responsibility for this month’s attack in Paris on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo that left 12 dead. Yemen has been wracked by instability since an uprising forced leader Ali Abdullah Saleh from power in 2012.
The council in November imposed sanctions on Saleh and two allied Houthi commanders for threatening peace in the impoverished Arab country.
Saleh has been accused of backing the Houthis and a source in the presidential guard said some Yemeni troops still loyal to the ex-leader had supported the militia in Monday’s fighting.
Pitched battles had erupted on Monday near the presidential palace and in other parts of Sana’a, before a ceasefire was agreed between ministers and a Houthi representative. At least nine people were killed, including fighters from both sides, and 67 wounded, as the militia seized an army base overlooking the complex and took control of state media.
Prime Minister Khalid Bahah escaped to his residence, where he has lived since taking office in October, after his convoy came under fire from Houthi fighters.
Houthi gunmen took up positions outside the residence late on Monday and were in control of all three of its entrances, government spokesman Rajih Badi said.
After a lull overnight, fighting re-erupted yesterday near President Hadi’s residence in western Sana’a when the Houthis attempted to set up a new checkpoint close by and were confronted by troops, the witnesses said. They reported heavy clashes inside the complex in southern Sana’a, one of the few public buildings to remain outside the control of the Houthis since they overran the capital. Tensions have been running high in Sana’a since the Houthis on Saturday abducted Hadi’s chief of staff, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, in an apparent move to extract changes to a draft constitution that he is overseeing. Mubarak is in charge of a “national dialogue” set up after veteran strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced from power in February 2012 following a year of bloody Arab Spring-inspired protests. AFP
